Buying agents are on the lookout for more than £1.2bn of prime residential property and the number is rising, LonRes claims.
The figures come from the business-to-business property platform’s retained agent alert, which launched last year to enable buying agents to register a client’s property requirements directly to prime London selling agents across the 6,500-strong network.
The value of client requirements was at £585.5m at the end of 2019 and at £6m daily on average.
From January to mid-March it rose to £1.08bn based on total value and £14.4m daily average before dropping to £287m and a daily average of £4.9m during lockdown.
However, the total value of client requirements has risen to £1.2bn since the market reopened in May, at £22m daily on average, LonRes said.
Anthony Payne, managing director of LonRes said: “The number of buying agents posting clients’ housing requirements on LonRes has been steadily rising since the housing market opened up, as has the combined value of property being sought.
“Both are now at levels which surpass pre-lockdown.
“By their very nature, purchasers registering with buying agents are serious, committed buyers. They will, in many cases, have paid a part of the commission in advance of finding a property.
“Unlike the statistics derived from those simply browsing on a property website, this data is unique in its ability to demonstrate the increasing volume of serious buyers looking to buy now.
“The fact that these enquiries are on the rise is indicative of the current strength of the housing market. Lockdown seems to have focused people’s minds on their home and where they want it to be.
“This together with pent-up demand from the start of the year, is what seems to be driving the market just now.”
| Value of client requirements logged – total | Value of client requirements logged – daily average | |
| Q3 2019 | £435,300,000 | £4,731,522 |
| Q4 2019 | £585,550,000 | £6,364,674 |
| 2020 Pre-lockdown (Jan to mid-March) | £1,080,225,000 | £14,403,000 |
| 2020 During lockdown (mid-March to mid-May) | £287,350,000 | £4,954,310 |
| 2020 After lockdown eased (Mid-May to 6th July) | £1,214,271,550 | £22,077,665 |
Comments (2)
“Registered applicants ‘Mr X’ and ‘Miss Y’ are looking for a property in your area…”
I used to get one or two of these a month through my letterbox – didn’t mean there was anyone there ready to buy my home.
*By their very nature, purchasers registering with buying agents are serious, committed buyers. They will, in many cases, have paid a part of the commission in advance of finding a property.* – Easy to think this however simply not true.
There are plenty of cash rich potential purchasers who are happy to pay a fee in advance to acquire someone’s time and mess them about all while gaining market intelligence and information. I have seen it so many times with friends of mine who are property finders. The so called client gets bragging rights of having their own property agent etc Makes for great b*llshitting at swanky hotels and bars bit in reality most of these clients have unrealistic mandates that will be never fulfilled. The agents waste a lot of time with these people and the *client* doesn’t mind losing their £2k or whatever it is.